2. This presentation
• To and fro between « theory » and small
tips
• The slides don’t matter
• Interrupt me whenever you want, to say
whatever you want
3. Talking points
• The problem
• Who am I doing this with?
• Who am I doing this for?
• What can I do?
5. Good companies
• With great ideas
• With great processes
• With great people
sometimes fail…
6. • If they failed to deliver (at all, or late, or not
with enough quality)
• They didn’t understand their own people
• If they failed to sell
• They didn’t understand their clients
But these companies
were great?
7. The question for
success: who
• Who am I doing this with?
• Who am I doing this for?
➡ Understand who people are
8. Why is understanding
people a problem?
• People are different but we assume they
are like us
• We don’t always hear what they say
• We don’t have the same references
10. Remember:
• Being great with the wrong people is bad
• The wrong way of working with good
people is bad
• The right mix is needed between good
ideas, good methods and good people
11. What does understanding
my people mean?
• Understand their motivation
• Understand their mindset
• Understand their culture
• Understand their communication style
12. Examples
• Agile in a conservative environment
• Financial incentives for mission-minded
people
14. Who are your clients?
• If you don’t know, you will fail
• If it’s « you » understand who « you » are
• In any case, identify:
• Needs/desires (jobs/pains/gains)
• Willingness and ability to pay
• How many of these people you can reach
15. Examples
• Edebex - Clear and simple value
proposition that appeals to their clients
18. Listen
• Be a « blank slate » - beware of
interpretation
• To the little things - the first message isn’t
always the most important
• What’s not said is often important
20. Questions
• Sometimes, explaining the answer to a
closed question is more powerful than an
open question
• Irrelevant answers are sometimes crucial -
your question might be wrong
21. Prospective clients?
• Market research
• Don’t ask about « liking » the product but
• About the reasons to use it
• About the reasons not to use it
• Consider not asking about the product at
all
22. Methodologies?
• Do adapt them
• But beware of the risk of breaking them
• When following a process, remember its
purpose
23. Lean start-ups!
Canvasses!
• Beware of blind spots
• Reasons NOT to use product/service
• Don’t oversimplify
• Lean is not a free pass to be sloppy. MVP is not a piece
of trash.
25. This presentation in
one slide
• Success requires you to listen effectively to
the people you work with and the ones
you work for.
• This brings better understanding which
leads to better collaboration and delivery
of greater value.
• Any tool that can help achieve this is good,
but should be assessed critically.
